Plate Scan Documentation

Introduction

What Plate Scan is and who it is for.

Plate Scan turns any phone or tablet into a license plate recognition tool for school parking enforcement. Staff scan a plate, see who the vehicle belongs to, and take action — issue a violation, check a visitor pass, or look up outstanding fines.

• Works on any modern mobile browser — nothing to install.
• Shared staff sign-in gated by per-device registration.
• Real-time cloud sync across every registered device.
• Full audit trail of scans, violations, and sign-in attempts.

Signing in

Register a device and unlock the app.

1. Open the app and choose your school from the dropdown.
2. Enter the shared staff password.
3. Optionally tap "Add device name" and label the device (e.g. "Front gate iPad").
4. Tap Unlock — the device is registered and you land on the Scan tab.

Every sign-in attempt — successful or not — is recorded with the device name, browser, and timestamp. Administrators can review this in the profile menu under Login history and block a device at any time.

Plate scanning

Live camera scanning, photo capture, and manual search.

Open the Scan tab and point the camera at a license plate. Plate Scan reads plates continuously through an on-screen plate-sized guide — hold the plate inside the frame and results appear automatically.

Three ways to look up a plate

Searches match the plate number only, so results are fast and precise. Plates are normalized before matching:

input:  "abc-1234"  →  matches  ABC1234
input:  "ABC 1234"  →  matches  ABC1234

Vehicle profiles

What you see after a successful scan.

A matched plate opens the vehicle profile: owner name and category (student, staff, frequent visitor), contact details, permit info, vehicles on the account, violation history, and outstanding fines.

• Staff accounts support a second vehicle that can be added, edited, or removed at any time from the profile.
• Temporary visitor passes show their remaining time and full visit history.
• Unregistered plates offer a one-tap path to add the vehicle to the registry.

Violations & fines

Issue violations, notify owners, and settle fines.

Issue violations directly from a vehicle's profile. Fine amounts are configurable per tier in Admin settings. When a fine is settled, tap Paid — the outstanding total on the profile updates automatically.

Violation notification emails are sent to the registered owner's address from:

violations@platescan.org

Scan history

Review recent activity and spot patterns.

Every scan is recorded with timestamp, plate, and device. The History tab lets staff review recent activity and spot patterns, such as an unregistered vehicle appearing repeatedly at drop-off.

Vehicle registry

Manage students, staff, and frequent visitors.

The Admin tab holds the full registry of students, staff, and frequent visitors. Each profile stores contact details (with automatic phone and email formatting), permit info, and vehicles.

Visitor passes

24-hour temporary passes and frequent visitors.

Temporary visitor passes are valid for exactly 24 hours from issue. Active passes appear in the registry so staff can verify them with a scan; once expired they drop off the registry but remain permanently in the plate's visit history.

Frequent Visitors are a separate, non-expiring category for regular guests such as contractors and district staff.

Settings & profile menu

School details, password, theme, and login history.

The profile button in the top-right corner of every page opens the account menu.

• Settings — school name, initials/logo upload, support email, and the shared staff password.
• Dark mode — a per-device preference that is never synced.
• Login history — a scrollable log of every attempt; tap an entry for device details.
• Help & support, About, and Sign out.

Sync & offline

How data moves between devices.

All devices registered to your school share data in real time through the cloud. Scans, registry changes, and settings propagate immediately.

• Offline changes queue locally and sync automatically when connectivity returns.
• Conflicts resolve last-writer-wins by timestamp.
• Sync attempts time out after 30 seconds and retry.
• Theme preference stays per-device and is never synced.

Access & security

Device gating, auditing, and error logging.

Access is gated by your school's shared staff password, and every device is registered on first sign-in with an optional name. Admins can review the full login history — including failed attempts — and block devices.

• Row-level security restricts all data access to authenticated sessions.
• Vehicle photos are stored in a private bucket with signed access.
• Production errors are captured centrally for troubleshooting.

Recent changes

What shipped recently.

August 2026

• Redesigned documentation site with sidebar navigation, driven by a single editable content file
• Marketing and pricing page moved to /landing; sign-in remains the default page
• Second vehicle support for staff accounts — add, edit, or remove from the profile
• Transparent, tightly cropped favicon with no white edges
• Patched a critical serialization vulnerability in app dependencies

Earlier

• Violation terminology across the app (formerly "warnings")
• (###) ###-#### phone masking and @bvsd.org email suggestions
• Violation notification emails from violations@platescan.org
• Soft-deletes with Restore in the Admin Database view
• 24-hour visitor passes with permanent visit history
• Real-time cloud sync with offline queue and 30-second sync timeout
• Faster live camera scanning with plate-sized guide and one-tap capture
• Production error logging and failed-login auditing

Getting help

Contact the Plate Scan team.

Questions, bug reports, and feature requests are welcome. Email us and include your school name and, if relevant, the device name shown in your login history.

support@platescan.org